Why Subletting Your Apartment Isn’t Smart

People will find a way to make some extra cash. Some have taken to subletting their apartments while they’re away. While that can be a nice lithe income boost, it can also spell trouble for some. A local New York City comedian fell into the latter category when he found out he unknowingly sublet his apartment to a person who was going to throw an orgy in it.

Comedian Ari Teman advertised his apartment on the subletting site Airbnb.com. A man named David contacted Teman saying he needed a place to stay while he and his family attended a wedding in the city. Since everything checked out, Teman handed over his keys to David and went on about his business. Later that same night, Teman realized he forgot a bag in his apartment and went back to retrieve it. When he got to his building, he discovered he had rented his spot out for an orgy.

Ari Teman arrived back at his apartment at 11:30 pm and found a mess of people, including David, in the lobby. Teman overheard David saying, “They’re shutting us down.” Teman went over to David and asked what he meant and a look of shock and horror appeared on David’s face. Without waiting for a response, Teman ran up to his apartment to find the “XXX Freak Fest” orgy happened in his home.

Ari Teman, thinking quickly, googled the number David gave to him just to see what came up on the internet and was shocked to find the orgy that was billed as an “BBW Panty Raid Party” had the same number on the flyer and David had on his Airbnb.com profile. After investing a little more, Teman found out tweets had gone out advertising the party as well.

Teman kicked all of the orgy’s participants out and assessed the damage to about $67,000. According to the comedian, his bed and sofa were broken along with his guitar, drum set, a lamp, and coffee table. Ari Teman’s clothes were mysteriously wet as well which caused the comedian to tweet, “I don’t even want to know why my clothes are wet.”

Airbnb immediately sent Teman $23,817 and sent someone over to change the locks on the apartment. They also released a statement:

‘Over 11 million guests have had a safe and positive experience on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare, but when they happen, we try to help make things right.

‘We were appalled when we learned about this incident and we took immediate action to help this host.

‘The individual who rented this space has been permanently removed from our site. We’ve reimbursed the host for damages to his apartment and ensured he has a new place to stay.

‘In the days ahead, we’ll continue to work with the host to assist him with his additional needs and we will work cooperatively with any law enforcement agencies that investigate this matter.’